Rye, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

The “historic location” (a 600-year-old building with mullioned windows and many a beam) certainly adds to the charms of this old smugglers’ inn – “a little old-school, but that’s all part of the experience”. It’s been under the same owners for three decades, and while it’s not the main draw, the “lovely food” also has its fans.

This quaint bistro in a row of Georgian shops has long been of note for its unpretentious, no-nonsense British cookery based on “local and interesting” ingredients sourced from fields, woodlands and waters. The menu may be a little “unchanging” for regulars, but then again they “know they are to be fed well” at this “always consistent” local gem.

2023 Review: “If only every pub was like this!” – “a quirky place” a short walk from the town centre which makes the most of its olde-worlde decor. The food is “competent and innovative”, and there’s a “good range of drinks”.

This increasingly fashionable adults-only wellness retreat in a converted 1960s motel behind Camber Sands serves ambitious and “interesting” menus from MasterChef contestant Nico Fitzgerald, accompanied by what is said to be the biggest selection of English wines in the country.

Former Gusbourne CEO Ben Walgate’s impressive farmhouse winery sits on a sweeping 70-acre estate, incorporating casual wood-fired pizza joint the ‘Dutch Barn’ and this “delightful dining room with views back to Rye”, where you pick between a two- or three-course lunch on Friday and Saturday, or tackle a five-course tasting menu by night. Zero-waste pioneer Brendan Eades of Silo fame oversees the Green Michelin Star field-to-fork cooking, which is “not fussy but simply super-tasty” (“wow…eaten with them three times in the last few months” and “every time it’s different”). They also have “very comfortable rooms” on site and you can do a “very enjoyable” wine tour and tasting too.

“Paul Webbe’s original restaurant never fails to delight or impress”, and after 27 years is recording truly impressive ratings and accounting for a significant number of best meals of the year from those who visit it. Yes, “the menu these days could perhaps be called ‘old school’,” but its focus on ultra-fresh local produce – including ingredients foraged in the surrounding countryside – has always been ahead of trends, while the cooking is “consistently of a very high standard”, with “plenty of choice at each course” and it’s all delivered with “fantastic service – they remember you every time”. It’s now the flagship of a group with fish specialist venues and a cookery school in Hastings.

This “lovely little gem” in a converted fisherman’s hut “serves the freshest fish straight out of the boats opposite” on Hastings beach, which is said to have the biggest fleet of beach-launched day boats in Europe.

This “fantastic” renovated Victorian hotel opposite the station was re-launched six years ago and is now “excellent in every way”, with “exceptional” cooking – “as seasonal as food gets, simple but so much flavour” – while “the service is attentive without being intrusive”.

This fish-specialist in a townhouse, from former Le Caprice chef Nick Hales, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and although it is rated on limited feedback, such as we have remains very good. The changing menu is governed by the catch from day boats launched from the beach at Hastings.

This 16th-century weaver’s cottage in the Weald was opened by former rocker Graham Garrett and wife Jackie in 2002. The “warm and cosy, ancient beamed dining room” turns out set menus that are “quite expensive but worth it” and are accompanied by “professional and charming” service from “members of the chef’s family and others”; stay in one of their “very quiet and comfortable rooms” and there’s an “excellent breakfast hamper” as a bonus. Top Menu Tip – “lovely amuse-bouches (brick tube stuffed with chicken parfait, Parmesan churros). Standout dishes include ‘Egg and Bacon’ (leek ballotine, quail’s egg, smoked eel and crispy pancetta), and a slice of braised and grilled Wagyu beef cheek with anchoïade”.

A “great” 15th-century pub (with four rooms set atop the nuttery in the garden) that’s situated in the heart of the Weald, and just a short stroll from Sissinghurst Castle, the old home of Virginia Woolf’s beloved, Vita Sackville-West, and whose gardens are run by the National Trust. “They always have good beer on” and, having extended over the years, there are five different dining areas in which to enjoy the “typical” but very sound gastropub fare, much sourced from the local area.

This black-painted wooden pub, reminiscent of one of the net huts in nearby Hastings, had lived many lives (cowshed, hotel, potential care home) before couple Olivia & Henry took it over in 2022. The kitchen turns out “lovely food that’s more than just pub grub”, taking the seasonal route and giving it a Sussex spin.

“Home-grown seasonal produce” means meals “as fresh as food can get” at this daytime café-restaurant (plus dinner on Friday & Saturday) at a long-term project, the restoration of a Victorian walled garden in the High Weald using organic no-dig methods. It makes a “super setting” for lunch or a “slice of lovely cake”.

Named after the coppiced woodland upon which it sits – Flimwell Park, an über-modern 46-acre sustainable community – this three-year-old is the third venture for Will Devlin, whose nearby The Small Holding holds a Michelin Green Star. “The standard bearer for excellent, locally sourced food” – small and large plates served in the “well-designed but canteen-style” interior or (preferably) on the stunning terrace overlooking the forest – it’s “pretty unbeatable for a fixed-price lunch”, though they’re also now open until 20.00 on Friday and Saturday night.